The Minister for Justice has described as "frightening" the results of an international survey which shows that the consumption of illegal drugs by Irish young people is among the highest in Europe.
In his first response to the report on drug use in Europe published last week, Mr O'Donoghue said it was "particularly alarming" that drug users tended to be relatively well-off students and young workers rather than from disadvantaged backgrounds.
One of the most frightening conclusions was that almost four out of 10 school-going teenagers in Ireland admitted to having used cannabis, twice the average in other EU countries, he told a conference on drugs and development in Dublin yesterday.
Mr O'Donoghue promised the Criminal Justice Bill, which was almost finalised, would "put the drugs barons out of business".
The conference examined how economic conditions often drive farmers in developing countries into growing the raw materials for illegal drugs, such as coca and poppies. Mr Ken Bluestone, a researcher with the Catholic Institute for International Relations, explained the predicament facing one farmer he met in the highlands of Bolivia: "He can grow pineapples for 3 to 7 pence apiece. The nearest town is 20 minutes away by car, and he has only a bicycle. So he has little chance of getting a higher price by selling for export. Or he can grow coca, for which he gets a constant and sustained income of £130, four times a year".
Mr Bluestone said EU policies to eradicate drug crops had failed to reduce drug production or the dependence of poor communities on illegal drug production and trafficking.
Aerial fumigation techniques using herbicide were damaging the health of children, polluting the environment and killing off "innocent" crops as well as the drugs which were the intended targets, he said.
In South America, about 30 per cent of all drug production was being intercepted, but this figure would need to rise to 75 per cent in order to make an impact on the supply of drugs to the West.
The Labour MEP, Ms Bernie Malone, contrasted the good news stories of the "Celtic Tiger" with the ravages of the drug problem. "As boardrooms and businesses celebrated unprecedented success in 1996, `Drug Dealers Ireland Inc' was no different."
Ms Malone attacked the "reactionary bluster" of politicians when talking about the drug problem. Simplistic solutions like the Minister's zero tolerance stance would not solve anything, she said.
Pressed to comment on the Government's handling of refugees, Mr O'Donoghue said Ireland's standing in the world in relation to asylum-seekers was "second to none". But a distinction had to be drawn between "genuine" applicants for asylum and illegal immigrants.
